eBook Review: The God-Blasted Land

The God-Blasted Land by Lee Carlon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a science fiction fantasy story. It’s set in another world after an apocalyptic event called the Cleansing. There are remnants of the old world around to remind everyone how things used to be but are not the way of life anymore. I always find other people’s interpretation of these types of events fascinating.

Avril is a young man trying to find his way in the world. A car is his home and scavenging technology parts is his job. There are many secrets surrounding him and he’s not sure who can be trusted. And he’s getting cheesed off with people trying to kill him. There are dragons, shapeshifters, bondsmen and a girl to contend with.

This is a story that appealed to me from the start. I ‘liked’ the characters straight away and I enjoyed learning about their world. It’s a small thing, but I liked the short chapters too. In our own world, with so much to do and not much time to do it, short chapters are heaven to me. It means I can snatch a few minutes of reading here and there without having to put the book down in the middle of a paragraph. Yet the best thing about this book is the constant action and the unexpected turn of events you encounter along the way. It was a smooth ride from start to finish and thoroughly enjoyable.

I will certainly be reading the second book when it comes out.

eBook Review: The Color of Magic

The Colour Of Magic (Discworld, #1)The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I heard about this series long ago, but never attempted to read the books. I’m not really sure why, maybe it’s because my sense of humour is different to most people’s.

Recently, I found myself in a situation where I was able to purchase the ebook at a very reasonable price. I decided to go with the flow. I purchased the book and put it at the top of my “to read” list.

My only expectation from the series was built around the word ‘funny’. I’m not sure I would use that word to describe the book, but it was amusing and it did make me smile a lot. That’s good enough for me.

I was surprised to find the book actually consisted of four stories, not totally related. The two main characters were delightful and they were the reason I read the book to the end. Unfortunately, the ebook was not ideally formatted and I found it difficult to keep track of where the scenes stopped and started. This caused problems with knowing whose point of view I was reading, which was confusing and distracting.

I liked reading the book but wasn’t as impressed as I thought I’d be. I’m not sure I’d be willing to purchase the second ebook to see how things go from here.

Review: 100 Stories for Queensland

100 Stories for Queensland Cover

100 Stories for Queensland by Jodi Cleghorn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I actually read this anthology a couple of months ago, but never wrote a review as I became tied up with the Hope project and didn’t have time. Now, I’m attempting to catch up on reviews and posts and felt it was time to write a review for this book.

100 stories. 100 authors. 100 unique ideas published in one book. The stories are extra short and touch on all kinds of wonderful things that stir the emotions. I found myself snickering while reading one story and crying (in a good way) when reading another.

Most of the stories are light-hearted, set in every day situations. Some of the stories take you away from the world we know and drop you in a fantasy world or on an unknown planet/space ship. All of them give you a moment to appreciate life through the eyes of someone else.

And the profits from the sale of the book are donated to the survivors of the Queensland floods, which devastated something like 80% of Queensland in early 2011.

This would make a brilliant gift.